Mavic got into the aero wheel game early with the Cosmic, introduced in the late ’90s, but as sales of its lightweight Ksyrium line took off, the French company shifted its focus to other categories. These days, though, aero is an area of intense development, and Mavic's road wheel line is expanding with the introduction of the CX01 concept and its first corresponding wheel system, the CXR 80, products proven in the wind tunnel and also on the roads and races of Europe, with riders from the Garmin-Barracuda and Liquigas-Cannondale teams. After three years in development, and a year of on-the-road testing, the CXR 80 is now ready for sale to the public.

Mavic presents the CX01 concept as a being an aerodynamic wheel system that considers all of the basic wheel components (hub, spokes, and rim), then integrates the tire and a small fairing—the CX01 “blade”—into the design. The blades, first spotted under riders on Mavic-sponsored teams at the 2011 Tour de France, snap into a channel molded into the rim in order to smooth the tire-to-rim interface, and reduce turbulence by smoothing air flow around the whole wheel, Mavic claims.

The result, according to Mavic, is a wheel that is more aerodynamic in a wider range of wind angles than other common aero wheels, including the Zipp 808 Firecrest. In fact, Mavic says that its wheel, in a controlled setting, is 15 seconds faster than the 808 in a 40-kilometer time trial. Removing the blade, a design that's currently banned in professional competition by the International Cycling Union, slightly decreases the wheels' performance, but the company says that it's still faster than Zipp's model.

Mavic popularized the "wheel system" with the Helium wheelset in 1996, selling a rim pre-laced to a hub—previously, hubs, spokes, and rims were all purchased separately. In 2010, the French company expanded the system concept to include tires. The CXR 80 comes with Mavic's Yksion 23mm CXR Grip Link (front) and Power Link (rear) tubular tires. Both models use specific compounds, and incorporate the casing and tread shape into the whole system's design to further help smooth airflow. As of now, the tires are only available as tubulars.

We got our first chance to ride the new wheels around Aix-les-Bains in northern France—perfect real-world conditions in which to evaluate a new aero wheel. Garmin-Barracuda pro David Millar joined the assembled media on a rolling 75km loop. On the ride, the wheels were noticeably flex-free despite low counts of bladed, stainless steel spokes (16 front/20 rear). Wide hub flanges help give the wheels their stiffness, Mavic says.

About halfway through our ride, the skies opened and the rains came down. Braking in the wet was as, you might expect from carbon wheels, not great. But, we're confident that Mavic, which has a reputation for creative solutions, will find a way to enhance braking performance on future iterations of the wheels. Tire grip on the wet roads, however, was great. The CXR 80's Yksion gripped the road well and transmitted confidence to the rider.